Post by Aelishb on Jan 3, 2009 20:21:12 GMT -5

I purchased Ruthie's holiday dress in December and use it on Jess, who doubles as my Ruthie. For $24 I received the dress, a hairband, and tights.

I think the dress looks fabulous on dark-haired dolls. The dress appears to be made of a crepe-type of material and mine came quite wrinkled from being packed in its small box. I have not tried to iron it. I find that the elastic in the waist helps the dress to hang nicely on the doll. The overlay is sewn down and is a stiff cotton. The embroidery is lovely. The velveteen bow at the bottom of the white overlay is also sewn on, so it will not be lost. I enjoy the lace trim on the dress. The dress closes in the back with velcro and there is velcro at the wrists to tailor the sleeves. I had no trouble getting it on Jess.

The tights are pretty much standard issue AG white tights, nothing special. Fair warning: the shoes that are pictured with this outfit in the catalog are Ruthie's "meet" shoes; no shoes come with the outift. I have put Jess in Samantha's Mary Janes for the season.

The headband gave me a bit of a challenge and is the one slight negative to the set. While I like that there is a headpiece included, I don't like this style. I had a very difficult time getting it on over Jess' head, like it wasn't long enough or wasn't given enough elastic to stretch. I felt like I was hurting her hair by the amount of pulling I had to do to get it on in the appropriate spot. It's pretty once it's there, but what a struggle! I also wish there had been a cluster of smaller flowers rather than one large flower on top of her head...

Overall, I give the set an A-. I really wish there was a way to get shoes to go with the set, and that the headband was designed differently!

Post by green chile supergirl on Jan 3, 2009 23:15:45 GMT -5

I don't particularly care for Ruthie's holiday dress, but I was happy to receive it as a gift. It reminds me very much of the holiday dresses I wore as a girl in the 80s and early 90s.

The headband is frustratingly tight, to the point that it messes up Ruthie's hair when you put it on. Be prepared for the need to completely rebrush her hair once you've managed to yank the headband on her head. The large flower is out of scale.

The tights, as Kim said, are standard tights.

The dress itself is of lightweight, unimpressive fabric. It feels rather stiff to me, not very nice. I found the overlay to be a bit bizarre, as I was not sure how to adjust it to make it look right with the blouson style-waist. Perhaps I am just doing it wrong, which is entirely possible.

Post by groveportdoll on Dec 11, 2009 20:59:14 GMT -5

Received tonight this VERY wrinkled dress. The fabric is some kind of light weight jersey that I don't think was manufactured in the 1930s so inappropriate for Ruthies era. I had to iron the bottom of the dress because honestly I have never seen anything so wrinkled in my life. There is no way I could put it on a doll as it was. I was very careful to use low heat because this is the type of fabric that would melt if iron was too hot. My Ruthie is chubby so I hope she fills out the wrinkles in the top part of the dress. The embroidery is nice.

Headband is way too tight...I tried putting on Ruthie but was struggling so hard I was afraid her head was going to pop off and even then I could not get all her hair behind the headband. I am going to replace the elastic....don't they try these accessories on the dolls before marketing them?

An AG clothes hanger was included which I thought they weren't doing anymore so that was a nice bonus.

The tights look standard...haven't tried them on her yet....hope they are not as tight as the headband!

Obviously I am keeping the outfit because it is near Christmas and I want Ruthie to have her dress for the "family Christmas portrait", but seriously I am so disappointed I am going to write AG....something in my 14 years of buying from them I never was moved to do before.

Post by agl ♥ on Feb 28, 2010 11:49:41 GMT -5

I actually like the dress. It is very pretty, and the color looks nice on Ruthie. The headband is useless, it was so tight I didn't even try to get it on, but other than that, I really like this outfit.

Post by Cakerey Queen on Dec 15, 2011 16:43:05 GMT -5

I recently purchased Ruthie's holiday dress when it was $19 on the daily deals. I thought people would be interested to see it on Kit (Kit's red holiday dress is on backorder at this time until Jan. ) My Kit is a Pleasant Company doll, but the Mattel dress seems to fit ok and it looks cute on her.

The headband is a little wonky, but I know it was made for Ruthie's hair vs. Kit's- I pulled it a bit forward over her ears, so her hair would drape a bit better. It's a great little dress!

Post by MollyEmily4Ever on Mar 28, 2012 10:49:44 GMT -5

I ordered this and the pajamas along with Ruthie when I purchased her because AG seems to slowly be phasing out the best friend line. I really like this outfit. It looks great on Ruthie and the colors are perfect for the holiday season. It doesn't come with shoes, but the shoes from Ruthie's meet outfit are perfect for it.

Post by Jamirae on Nov 22, 2012 9:22:02 GMT -5

I've resisted buying this dress because the white overlay was a bit much for my taste, but now that I have it in hand, I really like it. It's a very pretty dress. I'm glad this review section is here because it let me know that the wrinkles are normal for this fabric, but a minute or two with the steamer took care of that. I'm sorry I did not get this sooner. I think the red heads, brunettes as well as the raven haired girls are going to look striking in this. That the hair band would not show up as well for the dark haired girls makes me wish it were red or green instead of black. But it goes well with the dress. The tights are nothing special.

The dress is an A in my opinion. I would say it needs dressy shoes, but with all the Ruthie shoes that go on sale on Cybermondays and Last Chance Sales, there's plenty of opportunity to pick up a pair for a reasonable price.